Awarded annually to early-career European researchers, this grant provides funding for ambitious scientific projects with complete academic freedom. A highly prestigious mark of excellence, the ERC Starting Grant gives selected researchers national and international visibility and enables them to recruit top-tier collaborators.

Elsa Bernard, head of the Computational Oncology Team at Gustave Roussy, was awarded the prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant on 4 September. This highly competitive call targets researchers based in Europe, two to seven years after completing their PhD, who are leading bold scientific projects.

This grant will support Elsa Bernard’s research project, entitled CHIC, which aims to understand how certain mutations acquired in haematopoietic stem cells, the cells that give rise to all blood cells, influence the onset and progression of blood cancers as well as certain solid tumours.

Increased Risk for People with Cancer

With age, haematopoietic cells, which are mainly located in the bone marrow, accumulate numerous somatic mutations — errors in their DNA. As these mutated cells spread through the body, the phenomenon is known as clonal haematopoiesis. In most cases, this remains benign, but in some instances, it can progress to a malignant blood disorder. When this is observed in someone with no prior history of blood disease, clinicians refer to it as clonal haematopoiesis of indeterminate potential, or CHIP.

Age is not the only risk factor. People with cancer show a higher prevalence of CHIP than the general population, and chemotherapy or radiotherapy can promote its development.

Identifying CHIP status is crucial, as it increases the risk of developing rare but aggressive blood cancers (such as secondary myelodysplastic syndromes or acute myeloid leukaemia) as well as chronic inflammatory diseases. Studies also suggest an association between CHIP and a higher incidence of some solid cancers, such as lung cancer. These findings highlight the importance of CHIP status in the development of both cancerous and non-cancerous diseases.

However, how clonal haematopoiesis progresses to blood cancers, and the ways in which mutated stem cells may influence the development of new solid tumours, remain poorly understood. The CHIC project, led by Elsa Bernard seeks to unravel these mechanisms.

An Approach at the Crossroads of Mathematics and Biology

“By studying how mutated haematopoietic cells evolve over time and interact with other cell types, such as malignant tumour cells, our goal is to improve cancer prevention and management for the 25 % of individuals with clonal haematopoiesis,” explains Elsa Bernard.

She plans to develop a multidisciplinary approach combining mathematical modelling, artificial intelligence, biology, and precision oncology. The aim is to design tools for early diagnosis and risk stratification, enabling the detection of CHIP status in routine clinical practice, as well as to clarify how clonal haematopoiesis influences tumour evolution.

“This project has the potential to transform our understanding and management of CHIP in patients,” Elsa Bernard concludes.